This invention is concerned with a cheese moulding and hardening apparatus. The invention is particularly applicable in the production of provolone, block-shaped mozzarella, and other pasta filata cheese, such as the one known in the art as "pizza cheese", but it could be applied in the production of other kinds of cheese, such as those known as "pecorino", "caciotta", Gouda, Edam, etc.
In the production of provolone or other similar cheese such as block-shaped mozzarella, "pizza cheese", etc., the pasta filata in a plastic condition is introduced into cylindrical or prismatic moulds; the moulds are then chilled to harden their pasta filata contents; finally, the hardened cheese is removed from the moulds.
In the past, the above operations were carried out by means of free moulds, which, after being filled with pasta filata, were immersed in chilled water in bulk, and had then to be taken out and manually emptied. In order to eliminate such manual work and automatize processing, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,613 of May 12, 1987 provides a moulding and hardening machine where a large-diameter turning table or carousel, resting on a horizontal bedplate, carries a number of vertical moulds, arranged in several rows. The carousel moves in steps, and at each step a group of moulds is filled with pasta filata by feeder means. During the subsequent rotation of the carousel, the moulds are chilled by cold-water jets, and, after a full revolution, the blocks contained in the moulds are discharged.
The carousel of IT-A-1 183 842 has a typical diameter of 2 to 3 meters, which are compounded by accessory equipment surrounding the carousel. Therefore, that prior machine is quite large. Moreover, in order to rotatably support a table of such size and weight, expensive machining is necessary, as well as an extremely stiff, and therefore heavy and expensive, bedplate. Such high costs are reflected also in transport and installation.